Congratulations to all the USA medal winners yesterday, esp. Julia Mancouso who took the silver in the women’s downhill. She was below the radar screen of the media hype and defiantly rose to the challenge, and she is a surfer chick!
man i hate the Olympics , no doubt it takes skill to compete in the events i just think that they have drifted way to far from the source of the Olympics, back in the day it was a test to find out who was the strongest fastest best athlete . they need like a 5 mile run in the snow up the mountain , or if they want to keep the current events have all the same athletes compete in all the events now they would have to down size the number of events but at least you would know who was competing, your average person cant relate to any of the athletes or events in the Olympics its time for a change
billabong, i think you're missing the point. i mean, if you want to get technical, they should all be competing naked. that's how the ancient greeks competed. when the olympics were revived in 1896, not every athlete competed in every event. i don't know what history book you read that told you that. never mind the fact that as the level of competition increases, it requires athletes to increasingly specialize to keep up w/ the cutting edge. there certainly is a small amount of overlap, what w/ events like nordic combined & biathalon (xc skiing & rifle shooting) in the winter games & heptathalon & decathalon in the summer games. & have you never been snowboarding or skiing? if you have, how can you say that average people can't relate to the athletes? did you ever have to run a mile in gym class? ever played basketball? swam in a pool? if you've ever done any of these things, you have at LEAST a vague idea of what it costs these athletes in terms of physical effort to compete. the olympics are still about going higher, faster, & farther than you have before. the olympic motto is "citius, altius, fortius", which means "swifter, higher, stronger" in latin. in short, do'nt be jealous that you can't do this stuff. use it as inspiration to get off your @$$ & outside.
njsurfer24 you must be kidding , i would say may 15% of Americans care or can relate to the Olympics , no one knows any of the athletes or understands the events at work today i must have had to explain curling to 200 people its a gloryifed bar game. My point is the Olympics are old,no one understands them, no one has access to the even try them , why is soccer the most popular sport in the world? cause it only requires a ball . I would love to see the IOC step up and make some changes to the events to make it more casual fan friendly . Go ask 20 people i bet more then 15 of them would agree that seeing people run a one mile race in the snow up a mountain is way more enjoyable to watch then curling
not kidding in the slightest. & i must work, live, & be related to about 14% of that 15 you're referring to, b/c just about everyone i know is super into watching the games. they may not know every single one of the atheletes, but they cheer them on just the same. & honestly, a week before the opening ceremony, who hadn't heard of shaun white, lindsey vonn, or apollo anton ohno? or bode miller? & way to highlight curling...shuffleboard on ice. i will agree w/ you that there is some dumb $#!t in the olympics these days & it could be slimmed down some, but not to the extent you're talking about. oh, & to try bobsledding, luge, skeleton, or any of the alpine sports, all you have to do is go somewhere that REALLY has winter...lake placid, ny hosted the games a while ago & all the stuff is still there. you can go up & take a ride down the olympic bobsled track. ditto w/ park city, ut. i was there in 1999 when they were getting ready for the 2002 games & got to ride an early version to the snowboard downhill course. i think you need to look at this from outside of the mid-atlantic. growing up here, of course you're going to look at something like luge & think, "how in hell would someone think to do that??" but in countries dominated by winter, that's what they do. why do you think that the countries that generally do best have an overall pretty cold climate? norway, sweden, canada, russia...the only reason we do well is b/c we've got a pretty decent mix. just about all of the athletes are from places like utah, colorado, maine, etc...states w/ serious winter. the countries w/ warmer climates dominate the summer games. that's just the way it goes.
The Olympics have been on my television at all times. Even enjoy watching the curling. And all my roommates have been watching too. and just about everyone i know is watching them. soo
